Keep tissues handy. Allergy season has begun.

Many believe that allergy season accompanies Mother Nature’s first spring blooms. Wrong.

The Repository

Writer

Posted Apr. 6, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Apr 6, 2013 at 6:16 AM

Posted Apr. 6, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Apr 6, 2013 at 6:16 AM

Many believe that allergy season accompanies Mother Nature’s first spring blooms.

Wrong, says Ken Cochran, program director of the Secrest Arboretum at Wooster’s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center.

“People don’t think about wind pollination and some of our deciduous (foliage-dropping) conifers are releasing them now,” said Cochran. “I would look to dawn redwoods as the first. And the way temperatures are reading, bald cypress (similar in appearance to dawn redwoods) should release pollen by next week.”

Pine, spruce and fir pollen release probably is two weeks away, he added.

Because hardwood trees are insect-pollinated, Cochran said, they have markedly less allergenic impact on humans. After wind-pollinated trees, the humble taxus, a piney-looking landscape shrub commonly known as a yew, should be viewed as the next suspect.

“I just got a notice from a person in Columbus that its pollen is any time now. It will be in the wind and also if you touch the plant,” he warned.

With each warm day, grasses are beginning their inexorable life cycle, he said.

“Definitely by June and maybe some are in late May. If the flowers aren’t blooming, the grasses aren’t there,” he said. “Don’t worry about the forsythia. It’s going to bloom quickly but it’s an insect-pollinated plant.”

DOCTOR’S ORDERS

Otolaryngologist Aaron Brescia has lived in Northeast Ohio his entire life and, so far so good, he says, where allergies are concerned. But the Ohio Head and Neck Surgeons doctor acknowledges one could start his eyes watering at any time.

Before answering questions about the whys and wherefores of plant allergies, Brescia shared his best advice for any allergy sufferer:

Over-the-counter nasal saline spray.

“If you think of allergic rhinitis, it’s a pollen reaction. Small grains are inhaled and come in contact with the nasal lining. I keep telling patients if they’d use the nasal saline wash two or three times a day, it’s very inexpensive. Keep one in your purse, one at work, another in the glove compartment. You can’t overdo nasal saline,” Brescia said.

Several allergy drugs previously available only by prescription now can be purchased over the counter. Allegra. Zyrtec. Claritin.

But, unlike the nasal saline spray, there are side effects including drowsiness, dry mouth and eyes and possible cardiac events. Children’s dosages can make some youngsters hyperactive.

Brescia is already seeing allergy patients and he points to trees as the cause.

“As a rule of thumb, this is more of a tree season. Late spring and early summer are the grass season and ragweed and those things are out in late summer and early fall,” he said.

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“You know it’s an allergy if you have an itchy or runny nose, post-nasal drainage, watery or itchy eyes, sneezing and pressure in your ears like an airplane feeling. What happens is the inflammation in the nose makes it difficult for the eustachian tubes (in the ear) to function.”

A cure for allergies remains elusive, Brescia conceded. But allergy testing is a process that identifies trigger allergens and addresses them with regular injections.

During the build-up phase of treatment — usually three to six months — patients are slowly given increasing doses of the “guilty” allergen molecule. When the maintenance phase is reached, the dose remains the same and injections are scheduled once or twice a week.

“The reactivity potential is always there, even with shots,” he said. “But for many it’s very helpful in lessening the symptoms.”